“Stalking me?”
“Watching,” he corrected, not that there was much of a difference.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I can feel it. I’ve always felt it. Ever since you first saved me. I thought you k
new?”
He shook his head slowly. “I did not. Often, I wondered if there could be a possibility that the moments where you looked back or paused were for me. But till this year, I could not tell for sure. I assumed you had forgotten your childhood.”
It was the most he’d ever said to me, and I couldn’t help but feel the hundred different emotions bubbling up inside, shaking me.
“Your heart rate is increasing. Why?” His eyes shifted to my chest.
“It’s the excitement. Ignore it,” I said quickly, trying to brush it off. “Um, you are right. I don’t remember much about my childhood besides training. In fact, the only thing I remember was sneaking out of my house to go play in the forest.”
He smiled. “Yes.”
“You were there from the beginning?”
“It was your birthday.” He said it like that alone was enough.
I nodded, thinking. “Yeah, I think it was—in fact, it was. Simone always liked to play tricks on me because I was so gullible, even at eight. I loved fairies and truly, with all my little heart, believed they existed. We, as witches, existed, so they had to exist. Simone told me that if I went out right before the sun rises and spin three times in a field of flowers, singing a song for the fairies, they would come out to dance. I wanted to see them dance on my birthday, and instead, I ran into a vampire. I can’t remember her face well, but I do remember her long, black hair, which was soaked in blood from the person she was drinking from. Then she saw me, and all I saw were long claws and fangs before you…you killed her.”
“I did not,” he said to my surprise.
“What?”
“I wanted to kill her. Had she lain a hand on you before I got to her, I would have ripped her limb from limb. I was enraged. I kicked her away, then I picked you up and hid you in a tree trunk. I wanted to knock her out of blood lust as she had already inhaled your scent, and she would have chased after you. Breaking her was all I could do, which was the easier part because I did not know what to do with you. I was worried I would scare you even worse. I was covered in blood, and my clothes were tattered due to the struggle. I thought of how to alert your family to your whereabouts. But when it became silent, you peeked your head out, searched around for a few seconds before racing as fast as you could back home. I followed to make sure you made it.”
“And I never spoke of that day to anyone,” I replied before lifting my purse and bringing it into my lap. “I was scared my uncle would be mad, and I was scared he’d be angry at you since you were a vampire. I heard you fighting, and I felt so grateful. I held on to this while I was hiding.”
I opened the ring box. His eyes widened as he took the smooth golden head cufflink out of it.
“You’ve kept this…all these years?” His voice was low as he looked over it.
“Of course. I’ve seen it as my lucky charm, but I got worried I’d lose it, so I kept it hidden at home. Whether you killed the vampire or not, you really did save me. I was so happy. I went home and wrote this also that day.” I bit my lip, hoping he didn’t think I was crazy or weird, as I handed him my childhood composition notebook.
My name is Druella Zirie Omeron,
I am eight years old,
I am from Bymoor, Virginia.
My dad is Dovev Omeron.
My mom is Zirie Omeron.
They are gone, so Uncle Axel takes care of me.
He teaches my best friend, Simone, and me magic.
We learn magic because we are witches.
I am a witch.
Witches protect witches from the monsters.
I will protect us from the monsters.